Bridging elements



Feb. 5, 1957 w. c. HODGES ET AL BRIDGING ELEMENTS Original Filed Oct. 31, 1949 mvzmogs Wi/lI/L'am CH Alexander L. Robb.

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ATTORNHE United States Patent BRIDGING ELEMENTS William C. Hodges and Alexander L. Robb, Redwood City, Calif., assignors to Hodges Research and Development Company, Redwood City, Calif., 21 corporation of California Original application October 31, 1949, Serial No. 124,592. Divided and this application August 29, 1951, Serial No. 244,190

1 Claim. (Cl. 14--72) This invention relates to bridging elements and more particularly to such elements capable of sustaining heavy weights as when less than carload lot sized containers are transferred from and to Various types of transporting means or transferred from or to loading docks and the like from or to various types of transporting means.

Heretofore various bridging elements have been pro posed. These known devices are subject to various objections, including unnecessarily complicated and expensive structure and weight and for these reasons such apparatus have not been widely accepted commercially.

By the present invention we have overcome all of the inherent difiiculties in these known bridging structures and have further provided a novel bridging apparatus which is of a simple yet powerful construction.

Our bridging apparatus is so constructed and arranged that it is readily transportable and may be used and positioned by one man without assistance.

It is accordingly an object of the present invention to provide a novel bridging apparatus capable of sustaining heavy loads as in the transfer of less than carload lot containers.

Another object is to provide such novel bridging means, for bridging a variable space which bridging means compensate for differences of elevation, and are of such weight as to be readily portable.

Our invention is capable of various mechanical embodiments, one of which is shown in the accompanying drawings and is described hereinafter for purposes of illustration. It should be understood therefore that this illustrative embodiment of our invention in no way defines or limits the same and reference should be had to the appended claim for this purpose.

This application is a division of the copending application Serial No. 124,592, filed October 31, 1949.

Referring now to the several drawings, in which like reference characters indicate like parts,

Fig. 1 is a view from above of an embodiment of the novel bridging structure of the present invention;

Fig. 2 is a side view of a portion of Fig. 1 showing in detail the shoe structure for supporting the ends of the bridging structure; and

Fig. 3 is an exploded view of the portion of Fig. 1 shown in Fig. 2 to illustrate how the shoe is assembled with the bridging structure.

Referring to Figs. 13, it is seen that our bridging element 54 comprises a main channel-shaped section of any suitable length, indicated at 193 and provided with upstanding edges 194 and 195 for strength and as guides and a shoe 201 pivoted at each end thereof. A pair of downwardly depending ears 196 and 197 are suitably secured at each end of the channel 193 and each of these ears is cut away as at 198 and the ears are bored at 199 to receive a cotter pin 200. Each end of the bridging element 54 is provided with a shoe 201 which is rotatable with respect thereto through limited arcs to adjust for any differences in elevation between the truck and the fiatcar. Each of these shoes 201 comprises a channel-shaped ramp element 202, having upstanding edges 203 and 204. Each ramp 202 is mounted upon a base plate 205 which carries'a plurality of upstanding triangular-shaped Webs 206 to which. ramps 202 are secured. Ramps 202 are secured to base plates 205 along the line 205' and to webs 206 along the line 206'. A cylindrical shaft 207 is welded to the inner end of ramp 202 the end of which is shaped to receive it as at 202' (Fig. 5) to form a continuation thereof and is also welded into semicircular slots 208 out into webs 206. Shaft 207 extends beyond the edges 203 and 204 of ramp 202 and when the bridging element is assembled pass through the cut-away sections 198 of ears 196 and 197. Cotter pins 200, passing through holes 199, secure the ramp assemblies to the channel section 193 in such a way that shafts 207 form extensions of the bottom of channel section 193. The angularity of webs 206 adjacent bottom of channel-shaped section 193 determines the degrees of rotation of the shoes 201 with respect to the channel section of the bridging element but because of this construction a continuous rolling surface is provided for the caster wheels.

A pair of pins 209 extend downwardly through spaced holes in plate 205 at one end of the bridging element for free fitting engagement in a plurality of paired and spaced holes 210 let into the supporting surface. When pins 209 are engaged in holes 210, the bridging elements 54 are prevented from slippage during use, but are free to rotate as required to adjust for varying elevations as well as to adjust for limited lateral displacement.

A series of holes 210 are provided to obtain proper positioning of the bridging elements.

It is now apparent that by the present invention we have provided a novel bridging apparatus, which apparatus efliciently accomplishes all of the objectives described above.

It will now be apparent to those skilled in the art that changes in or modifications to the above described illustrative embodiment of our invention may now be made without departing from our inventive concept. Reference should therefore be had to the appended claim to determine the scope of this invention.

What is claimed is:

In a bridging element, a main channel-shaped section, a pivot pin rotatably mounted transversely across the full width of the bottom of said section at each end thereof forming extensions of the bottom, and a shoe welded to each of said pins, said pins forming extensions for said shoes, each of said shoes including a base, a plurality of upstanding triangular shaped webs extending longitudinally of and secured to said base and a ramp engaging an upper edge of each of said webs and secured to said base, the other edges of said webs acting as a stop against said main channel-shaped section to limit rotation of the shoe, the pivot pin being secured at the apeXes of said webs.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 426,209 McIntyre Apr. 22, 1890 770,652 Posey Sept. 20, 1904 1,000,983 Bidlake Aug. 22, 1911 1,262,930 Diaz Apr. 16, 1918 1,628,809 Sandstrom May 17, 1927 2,083,178 Woodruif June 8, 1937 2,644,180 Eycleshimer July 7, 1953 2,670,484 Bintlifi et a1. Mar. 2, 1954 

